Creativity Magazine

I, The Illustrator: Happy Birthday, Mickey Spillane

By Mrstrongest @mrstrongarm

It’s been awhile since I did a birthday tribute. I decided to do one for Mickey Spillane, best remembered for his hardboiled detective novels featuring private eye Mike Hammer.
I managed to post the illustration to my Facebook page on his birthday, but am late posting it here.

blank vertical space, 32 pixels high

Birthday tribute caricature of author Mickey Spillane famous for his hardboiled detective novels featuring private eye Mike Hammer with rebus of book titles I The Jury and Kiss Me Deadly

blank vertical space, 32 pixels high

Tough guys. Seductive women. Sex, violence, murder, mayhem. The sort of thing that knocks a young idiot’s socks off, especially if the idiot (yours truly) grew up reading Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and Agatha Christie.

You (the sensible, mature reader) are no doubt saying: Phooey! Sounds like a lot of tired old cliches. True enough, but Spillane sensationalized the tough private eye genre, and made it seem fresh. The books are dated now. Not surprising, since his first came out in 1947. Here’s a detail image:

blank vertical space, 32 pixels high

detail image Birthday tribute caricature of author Mickey Spillane famous for his hardboiled detective novels featuring private eye Mike Hammer with rebus of book titles I The Jury and Kiss Me Deadly

blank vertical space, 32 pixels high

A rebus is a puzzle where pictures are used to represent the sound of words or syllables. Typically, a rebus also includes letters and symbols. You put them together to “sound out” the answer.

The Spillane illustration contains rebuses which represent the titles of two of his books. Can you decipher them? Answers below.

blank vertical space, 32 pixels high

detail image Birthday tribute caricature of author Mickey Spillane famous for his hardboiled detective novels featuring private eye Mike Hammer with rebus of book titles I The Jury and Kiss Me Deadly

blank vertical space, 32 pixels high

How good is the caricature? Here are some photos of Spillane, who certainly looked the part of a tough guy. Interesting bit of trivia: Spillane played his own character, detective Mike Hammer, in the movie version of his novel, The Girl Hunters (1963). It co-starred Shirley Eaton who played the “gold paint girl” in the James Bond movie, Goldfinger.

blank vertical space, 32 pixels high

photos of author Mickey Spillane famous for his hardboiled detective novels featuring private eye Mike Hammer with rebus of book titles I The Jury and Kiss Me Deadly

blank vertical space, 32 pixels high

Rebus answers: I, The Jury, his first and most famous novel (1947), and Kiss Me, Deadly (1952). Here’s the final again:

blank vertical space, 32 pixels high

Birthday tribute caricature of author Mickey Spillane famous for his hardboiled detective novels featuring private eye Mike Hammer with rebus of book titles I The Jury and Kiss Me Deadly

blank vertical space, 16 pixels high

  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *  *

blank vertical space, 16 pixels high

Do you read thrillers and detective fiction? Who’s your favorite author?

Do you like puzzles and word games? What’s your favorite kind?

Do you sing the Goldfinger theme song when you’re in the shower??

Hope you’ll leave a comment.

blank vertical space, 24 pixels high

If you enjoyed this post, please click the Like button below.

blank vertical space, 24 pixels high

If you’d like to share this post with others, please click Tweet or Facebook or StumbleUpon or one of the other Share buttons.

blank vertical space, 24 pixels high

I also invite you to get updates. Just click the Get Updates button in the sidebar below the Portfolio Thumbnails, or click + Follow in the blog menu bar.

blank vertical space, 24 pixels high

If you’d like to buy prints or greeting cards, click on any of the large preview images in the sidebar below the Get Updates button.

blank vertical space, 24 pixels high

Other Posts You Might Enjoy:

BlankVertSpace.8pixels

Leprechaun Trauma: Wrong Pot, Bad Shock

Bible Scholars Stunned: Forbidden Fruit May Have Been… A Shoe!


Back to Featured Articles on Logo Paperblog